Congratulations, so very happy for you (:

Great job Nick. Well done!

And BK...you're making a common mistake here. While Nick has abundant talent and likely WILL be an architect on day, He's not one now. What I'm saying has nothing to do with Nick as I know he has not represented himself as one (we've communicated privately for a while now so I can attest personally to his high standards) but everything to do with a legal definition of actually who is an "architect".

But good job. Looks like it went well.

Architectrunnerguy - I should have clarified that, however me being unfamiliar with the industry, I didn't know if that technically excluded him out of that catagory if you will. Perhaps I should have stated an Architect in Training. Regardless, we were certainly aware of his qualifications going in and honestly couldn't be happier that we chose him. He really has went far beyond what we ever expected. Originally we liked the mock plan he drew up and wanted to explore that more, in the end we got way more than we ever thought possible. I don't think he left one item on our wish list, he was able to get them all crossed off (and trust me, there were A LOT).

So much better. Can we see the elevations too?

Very nice changes! Would also love to see elevations.

Much better.

i wonder...in the master suite, what if the bathroom were aligned completely along the outside wall, and the closet along the garage wall? Then you aren't walking through either to get to the other. And when you look through from the bedroom, the end wall would show you, instead of clothes, a mirror or artwork or tall chest of drawers, or (this would be cool) one of those hall trees with a bench for putting on your shoes. It could be free-standing or built-in, designed to match your general decor, and should include a tall mirror.

My other thought is, two closets (with doors) on either side of a short hall, and the bathroom at the end of the hall.

This is my own personal preference showing, to not walk through one to get to the other. I think it would look nicer and give everyone privacy.

And, because the plumbing is already going all the way to the garage wall with either of these ideas, you might put a slop sink or shop sink on the other side, in the garage. We are getting ready to do just that. Handy for washing off tools and hands, and even small dogs. We are going to have either a pullout faucet or an old-style faucet that you can screw a hose onto,

I agree it is much improved without going overboard. It is harder to design a small house than a large house because you can't add square footage to solve a problem. I like how the stairs are opened up so that when the boys move downstairs those rooms will feel like they are part of the house.

Personally I would square up the diagonal hallway between the family, bedroom, and bath. You really aren't getting any extra usable space in any of the rooms. I'd put a small, high window in the kids bath for natural light and maybe consider one in your closet as well. Did you consider putting a closet in the family room for storage? Where will you keep the vacuum cleaner in the current design? You won't want to carry it up from the basement. Did you consider putting the sink and dishwasher on the island so you would have more counterspace on either side of the range?

Good point about the angled hall, Stan. As it is, the boys' bedroom is on full display from the living room right to the dining area. Good incentive for them to make their beds every day...and not get away with it when they tell Mom they did, but they didn't lol!

It won't square up. If you square it up you'll need to lose the hall coat closet. I do agree though that that side can still use a bit of work so it's not on display.

Here is bp's idea of flipping the master closet and bathroom.

Definitely a big improvement! My preference would be to consider switching the kitchen and dinette somehow so the traffic flow isn't through the kitchen and to be able to get some windows in the kitchen (my own personal preference but you may not agree).

Thanks for drawing that up, CP. And if the shower were turned sideways (with really nice tile you'd see down the hall from the bedroom), the toilet could move down, making the (his? Grin.) closet a bit bigger.

I appreaciate all the feedback, heck without it we would be building our initial layout which really did leave a lot to be desired. Not to mention, if you all saw the roofline of that one, let's just say I would have had far more criticism. Nick, my husband and myself went through every inch of this house. A few things:

-Our central vac will be held in the small pantry against the stairs. We currently have one located in the kitchen pantry that is always hooked up so we simply open the pantry door, pull out the vaccuum and flip a switch and it's on. I love it for picking up crumbs after meals etc.

-Regarding the sink and dishwasher in the island, this was something we specifically did not want. We are doing a raised dishwasher (again) so because this will require the dishwasher to be raised, it's not possible to have it incorporated in the island. That said, we want the sink right next to it for obvious reasons, which is why those are located on the back wall.

-I'm not a fan of having the master bath and closet in seperate areas. I love to wake up in the morning and shut the bathroom door and not have to come back out into the bedroom to get dressed/get clothes. I also have never seen a master that you walk through the closet to get to the bath. Perhaps this is one area that we may still want to review on the plan, possibly there is a better layout, I'll certainly think about it.

-I didn't initially know if I loved the angled hall or hated it, but it grew on me. I also spoke with my sister who stated that she loved these, so I decided it makes sense here.

-And no tile in this home. We're going for basic (no brick, no tiled shower, vinyl plank flooring). We're going more for square footage than upgrades if you will. We're wanting a fairly simple home if that makes sense.

-And we love the abundance of windows on the back, switching the kitchen to this side would elimate much of these I feel.

And by elevations, I'm assuming you're referring to exterior photos?

We walk into our master bath to get to the closet in our previous and current house (18 years total). We find it works fine and would rather have the square footage in the bath or closet than in a small hallway. You are down to personal preferences so I think that's a good sign the plan is pretty mature!

I also have never seen a master that you walk through the closet to get to the bath. Perhaps this is one area that we may still want to review on the plan, possibly there is a better layout, I'll certainly think about it.

I see it a lot in custom high end houses in our area. My personal preference is not to have to go into the bathroom to get my clothes, but that's MY preference. You need to do whatever works best for you.

I like the way CP drew it. You can have a door at the bedroom, so it's closed off into one space as you like. The shower isn't practically in the bedroom. You can grab a sweater without walking through the bathroom. And bathroom sounds a better insulated from the bedroom.

I visited an open house where you walked through a closet to get to the bathroom, but you actually walked THROUGH the closet. It was a bit creepy since the house was occupied, so even though the closet had been tidied, you still walked right past the clothes. I didn't like that at all, but I know others don't mind. The way CP drew my thought, the closet contents are kind of contained even when open, and you can close the closet doors to hide it (I'd do pocket doors, so that they don't take up any space, but inward-opening doors would be fine, too, allowing you to use the walls for flat or shelf storage).

But, I like that you know what you like! It's a good thing :)

and can I just say, the exteriors look nice, and I am very envious of the garage and mandoor for the back yard. Good idea.

Bpathome/Cpartist - The bath/closet flip is growing on me...I like that the bathroom is tucked way back. Thank you for the suggestion, I'm certainly leaning towards it.

BK, what I did in my build is gave myself a walk in closet and gave DH a reach in closet. Both will have California Closet type hanging, storage, etc to maximize space. Here's how we arranged ours:

cpartist BK, what I did in my build is gave myself a walk in closet and gave DH a reach in closet. Feel sorry for the guy.

DW's need came first in my design but I did not leave myself out, both walk in closets are unconnected and independent rooms, virtually the same size and NOTconnected to the bath though DW had a door option to the bath but we don't want dampness/moisture/odors from the bathroom creeping into our closets.

Well isn't that wonderful for you, pinebaron.

However my DH lives in shorts and tee shirts 90% of the time and those are stored in HIS 5' long, six drawer dresser which will be in the bedroom. So your comment was quite unwelcome. Meaning I did not leave him out, but designed the house so it works best for the both of us.

Plus a well designed 6' reach in closet can store more than a too short walk in closet.

Unlike you, not all of us feel we need to make everything oversized. Some of us are happy with designing things that are right sized!

Pine Baron - DH works from home the majority of the time, unless he is traveling, so his clothing needs are basic (lounge pants and a t-shirt most of the time). So I feel the smaller closet is justified. Plus he has a ridiculously large garage, so I don't feel bad.

cpartist- sorry you took my comment the wrong way, it was not meant to be a criticism of your design, I was just trying to defend DHs' needs :) Ours are just the right size too.

BK Iowa - Point taken.

I liken the closet before the bath as a perfect sound barrier for those that have different wake/sleep/showering schedules. It's not an uncomfortable distance and it looks to me like it would feel pretty natural and be very functional.

I played with the master bath just a bit. By turning the shower and moving it down, you can enlarge DH's closet a bit. I'd put the shower controls behind the toilet, and the shower head on the short wall that backs up to the 3rd garage. So about a third of the shower is hidden by the water closet. Ours is kind of like this, and I like having that "private" area of the shower.

I moved the linen closet to the other side of "her" closet, so that the bedroom door opens against it instead of against the "her" closet opening. I figure that whenever you go into the linen closet, you probably have the door closed anyway. And if not, well, you go in the clothes closet more often that you go into a linen closet.

I added a door to the bathroom, too. Maybe two doors is overkill, and just the bathroom door is enough; you don't have to have a door from bedroom to dressing hall.

(And by the way, are you absolutely married to the idea of a toilet closet? If you open it up, well, the whole bathroom seems bigger. Then you could rotate the toilet so that it backs up to the garage, giving you more room on either side of the commode, which makes it much easier to wash the floor and repair the toilet when needed.)

(And by the way, are you absolutely married to the idea of a toilet closet? If you open it up, well, the whole bathroom seems bigger. Then you could rotate the toilet so that it backs up to the garage, giving you more room on either side of the commode, which makes it much easier to wash the floor and repair the toilet when needed, and lets you hang a towel on the shower wall while you are showering. Here's how that might look:)

Even better, I swung the toilet around to back up to "his" closet, and changed the swing of the door, so the door makes a natural block of the toilet. Like this:

I like to open the bathroom door and see mirror. It makes a small room seems so much BIGGER, kinda similar to what Nick had originally. And make the mirror "countertop", at least the width of the vanity and go up to just under wall mounted light fixtures (BTW, from my 30 second sketch it looks like the closet can get about 6" bigger. I used the same size tub and vanity depth).....now it's out the door for a dawn run!

Ooh, nice ARG!

maybe a pocket door for the water closet so the doors don't collide?

What ARG did. Only difference would be that I would make the door to the toilet a pocket door

We certainly appreciate all the guidance and ideas. Water closet is a must, I love my husband dearly but that's a deal breaker in my book. Also with a blow dryer going and running around, I tend to get very hot while getting ready and often open the window (one of the few pluses of Iowa winters). So I would ideally want a window that is easy to open without having to reach over the tub. Also we're not doing a step in shower, but rather a 5x3 step in fiberglass shower so I cant have anything in front of either side if that makes sense. But I believe we've agreed on the closets between the master and bath, yet again another reason I love this site!

I'm not sure I follow why a fiberglass shower can't have anything in front of part of one side? Is it something to do with the doors that come with it?

but, my last idea could work, if the toilet went back to a water closet. A wall could be built so it doesn't interfere with the shower doors.

Bpa no door on the shower, just a shower curtain and the entire front is open, which is why you can't have anything on either side, unless there's something im missing.

I love ARG's design. But I know exactly what you are talking about - ours is also a fiberglass alcove - is that what you are planning but sans door? If so maybe this image will help with further tweaks. :)

Exactly! Thank you for clarifying!

I love our shower, it's a comfortable size and I don't miss it being all tile or anything at all.

Could you flip tub and shower and go for a high window?

I mentally have it rethought. We'll work around that hot hair dryer yet!! Heading out but back later.

The struggle of hot hair dryers and peri-menopause is sooooooooo REAL! LOL! Speaking for myself now not BKIowa.

A nice window will be awesome for light and for venting. We have a small square one and I use it all the time.

In Doug's version, move the tub up towards the vanity, so the vanity becomes the size it was. Then put a window in the space between the wall and the tub. Good place to hang towels too.

What CP said, and swap the shower and toilet so that the shower has an open wall. Move the bathroom door to the other side of the shower, of course. This puts the linen closet in the bathroom, convenient. But, it just doesn't seem "nice" to have the shower and it's curtain right there. Hmm, more to think about, but it will work out.

Might I suggest an additional window in the downstairs bedroom. You have the opportunity for windows on two walls, I'd use it.

Put a closet in the family room. You will find uses for it. It would provide you with the option of making it a bedroom in the future, if it's ever needed.

I like ARG's plan - the extra counter space on the vanity will be appreciated by the occupants.

As for the closet - that layout worked quite well for DH and me in our prior house - ultimately - we shared the walk in - and used the reach in for off season storage. Seemed like a better compromise.

That's the beauty of a custom house - it gets designed around the needs of the occupants!

If any of you are on here anymore, it’s been three plus years in our new house and my husband and myself often say how ridiculously thankful we are that we (I) stumbled across this site and ended up (reluctantly) scrapping our original plans based solely on you all picking it apart. If you recall, our plans were done as were bids and we were simply waiting for spring to come so we could dig, I thought you all would have minor suggestions for us, boy was I wrong. The thought of going back to the drawing board, going back through the drafting process and making our contractors rebid was overwhelming but we are so thankful we did. I haven’t been on this site in a while but hope you all are still helping lots of folks, your knowledge was certainly invaluable, what a huge difference you all made in our world and I hope others are lucky enough to experience the same.

Would you mind sharing your “before” vs ”after”? How did your plan change?